Noted communications theorist, David Berlo stated that schooling should no longer be about knowledge acquisition, but rather about knowledge processing:
For the first time in history, two related propositions are true. One, it no longer is possible to store within the [human] brain ... all of the information that [a human] needs; i.e., we can no longer rely on [ourselves] as a memory bank. Second it no longer is necessary to store within the human brain ... all of the information that [humans] need; i.e., we are obsolete as a memory bank ...
Education [therefore] needs to be geared toward the handling of data rather than the accumulation of data.
This is from Berlo's book: The Context for Communication, published in 1975 and quoted in an article by Elizabeth Thoman, "Screen-Agers ... and the Decline of the "Wasteland."
In this article, published in 2003, Thoman states that the US is a decade behind countries such as England, Australia, and Canada in teaching students how to make meaning from print and electronic media (newspaper, magazines, television, internet ... articles and commercial messages).
The term "screen-agers" comes from Douglas Rushkoff and refers to the increasing use of screen-based information by today's youth ... television, video games, movies, computers, telephones, and expanding into cars, refrigerators and other home appliances. Screen-agers "read" and "write" seamlesly, using images, sounds, and words. They experience the world not in physical boundaries, but as an instant global network of connections and interconnections. Screens do not impact the youth culture ... they are the youth culture, according to Rushkoff.
The Center for Media Literacy has identified Five Core Concepts and Five Questions to help students learn how to make meaning from the flood of media messages that come their way every day:
1. All messages are "constructed. -- Someone created the message so the question is "Who created this message?"
2. Media messages are constructed using a creative language with its own rules. -- Music, graphics, grammar, syntax and metaphor are used to create an impact. The question is "What ceative techniques are used to attract my attention?"
3. Different people experience the same media message differently. -- Age, background, culture and interests all color the understanding of messages. The question is "How might different people understand this message differently from me?"
4. Media have embedded values and points of view. -- Decoding the point of view allows us to judge whether or not to accept the message. The question is: "What lifestyles, values, and points of view are represented in, or omitted from, this message?"
5. Most media messages are constructed to gain profit and/or power. -- Therefore, the last, and perhaps most important, question is "Why is this message being sent?"
